'The Rising...'
The Kingdom of Avalon...
Iris City...
A scarlet red train slowly pulled into a large stone train station as the doors slowly began to slide open allowing several people to step off of the train. Many of these people were all refuges, from the Camelot Kingdom. Forced to flee after their home was lost in the war... Their walls torn down and their King on the very verge of being overthrown they had no choice but to flee to safety.
Many of them have lost so much...
The war of the Great Kingdoms has been going on for years now. Camelot was being backed into a corner, as Alnwick was gaining the edge. So many people had no choice but to flee to Avalon for safety. So many people had become so lost...
They all lost friends, family, loved ones, pets, homes, items, money, energy, and memories.
So much was gone and lost taken by this bitterly cruel world...
And for some...
"Davi!" Tori yelled hitting his friend over the head with his gloved hand as hard as he could "Wake up!" He hissed loudly. "The train stopped at an earlier city... We have to hide and fast..."
For some, the war hasn't really bothered them... In fact... For this odd pair they didn't even seem to know that a war was going on...
Not a good sign...
Tori smacked the snoring body of Davi over the head again and again with his left hand but either he hit him so hard he caused him to black out, or Davi just wasn't phased by the flaming immortals punches, because his snoring only got louder as he tossed and turned in his makeshift bed using his guitar as some kind of strange pillow. Tori's deep frown only grew as he unleashed a mighty barrage of fierce slaps. He gave off the aura of an angered bird. Davi though rolled over casually flipping Tori the bird as his head nuzzled further into his sleeping spot and his snoring got even louder somehow.
"God damn it! This isn't funny..."
"N... Not... Joking..." Davi yawned before his eyes shut even tighter and he murmured some weird words from under his breath.
"Wake up dumbass!" Tori hissed. "Damn it Davi! Wake up! They're gonna figure out that we're stowaways if we don't get off! I knew we should have just bought tickets. Gods how did I ever get stuck with you as a teammate. Was I some kind of evil wizard, running their own dark guild, in a previous life or something? No even that wouldn't rack up enough karma to have you as a teammate."
He let out a sigh and for a moment he thought back to the time he had met Davi...
A boy with shark like teeth and a very strange limb attached to him. 'Help me.' Those had been the word Tori had asked him that day. 'Sure thing.' Had been his reply as he gave off a shark like grin...
Tori sighed shaking his head. "I'm not about to get sentimental... You're still a jerk..."
"Ahh... Five more minutes." Davi yawned, not caring that he was being hit... His face twisted slightly showing off his shark like fangs which only made Tori even more mad as he bashed the bag Davi had with him into his head more and more. It must have been filled with rocks or something though as it made loud cracking sounds against his head. "Relax..." Davi said letting out a small yawn as he cocked his head back resting it on the arm-rests of the trains chairs. "Just a little bit longer-"
"Davi!" Tori hissed out. "We don't have five minutes! We need to get to our hiding places. Before they discover that we are stow-"
"Tickets please." A calm, and fake, kind voice announced from behind the red haired man, making Tori jump.
Tori felt a shiver go down his spine for a second as he let out a sheepish laugh. He slowly turned around to stare at the woman who stood behind him now. The woman had a fake, 'kind' smile on her face and her hand was outstretched towards the fidgeting boy in front of her.
"R... Right..." Tori stuttered. He made a fake show of looking for his ticket before he let out a quiet hiss. "I uhh... I don't appear to have it... I... I think me and my..." He took a glance at the sleeping Davi for a moment. "...My... Let's call him friend, though a loose term of that word, misplaced them..." He gulped when he saw the woman's smile snap in half for a moment. A blink though and it was back on. "So... I uhh... I guess their gone haha... Ha... Ha... You're not laughing... Why are you not laughing..."
"I'm afraid that, unfortunately means, you will have to buy more." The lady said. Her smile seemed to have broken for a moment but was back as she held her hand out with even more force.
"...We... Kind of don't have any money... We're sort of broke... Davi doesn't understand the theory in money..."
"Ahh..." The woman nodded for a moment. "Are you two refugees from Camelot?"
"No Ma'am!" Tori shook his head. "We are heading to Oleander but the Train made a stop in this city first. Why do you ask?"
"Oh. I was just asking to see how badly I could make your punishment."
"I see- Wait what."
"Roman!" The woman suddenly yelled not taking care to lower her voice next to the sleeping boy.
There was a loud bang, as a large figure began to walk towards them. He was massive standing at nearly eight feet tall and had huge muscles. A powerful and buff orc.
"What." He grunted out in a great big booming voice.
"These two are stalling for time." The woman smiled. "They didn't have a ticket.
"Okay? Make em buy a new one."
"Oh. They don't have the money apparently."
"They what!" The orc slowly reached up and cracked his knuckles as a fire lit up in his eyes. "Freeloaders huh? You know how you're gonna pay for that ticket!"
"H... How..." Tori stuttered.
"In pain! One broken bone for every coin you didn't pay!"
"Uhh? He did it!" Tori said pointing at Davi. "When in doubt blame Hawker!"
Davi let out a quiet snore as he felt someone tapping at his head. "What is it, Kaen?" Davi groaned as his eyes slowly opened. "I'm trying to sleep- Oh. Oh..."
Davi shut up when he saw the biggest, buffest, man of his entire life, staring down at him with flames in his eyes.
"Oh... Shi-"
'Bang!'
***
Meanwhile away from the horrible terrible violence...
Inside of a random magic shop found somewhere in the City...
A young boy stood inside of a large store looking around with curiosity. The boy couldn't be older than eighteen and had short brown hair, and bright brown eyes filled with so much hope. The boy wore a simple pair of black pants, and a white buttoned up long sleeved shirt with a brown vest around it and some green robes. A simple long sword rested at his side inside of his holster, and his eyes were filled with wonder as he looked around.
Next to him a small creature stood. It was kind of hard to describe. It was like a black puff ball around the size of a small basket ball. It had pitch black fur and a pair of stubby legs poking out of the bottom of it as well as a pair of stubby arms poking out from its body. It had pitch red eyes, and a tiny little mouth twisted into a smile showing off many fanged and sharp teeth, as well as a pair of cat like ears sticking out of the top of the puff ball and a tail coming out the back.
Jakey?
Or rather Cath...
This young man was someone very important to our tale. He was known as Oliver Lot and that cat creature was indeed Cath the Oddity Beast Davi had with him on his island.
So the question then became, who is this brat, and how does he have such a beast with him.
What happened with Cath?
He let out a hum as he looked around the many shelves seeing all the crazy rare stuff that hung up around them. There were wide arrays of various magical trinkets all on the shelves that he looked at with excitement.
It was like a kid in a candy store.
"What do you think Cath?" Oliver asked patting the strange looking cat. He raised it up to his eyes as if waiting on it to say something.
The cat's nose twitched as it stared ahead blankly at Oliver not doing anything. Oliver cocked his head to the side as he stared at it.
"Sure I can do that I guess." Oliver turned and walked up to the front desk. "Uhh... Hello." He said sounding a bit nervous. He waved giving the old man who stood behind the desk a kind smile. He was super tall and buff and looked kind of scary. "I was... Umm... Wondering... If you have any kind of magical trinkets... Like the kind that can help someone cast a spell easier? Staves and Wands? I'd really like a magic sword if you have one?" He said in a nervous tone clasping his hands together.
"You a wizard or something?" The store clerk grunted.
"Uhh. Yes sir." Oliver nodded. "I recently graduated from a magic school in Alnwick, top of my class, and I think it's about time I set out on my Adventure, but... I need way better gear if I'm ever going to be good! It's my dream to one day join a Guild becoming a powerful Arcane Hunter so I can try and draw the holy sword Excalibur!"
The man grunted as he ran his hand through his beard for a moment. "I think I get what you're saying." He reached down underneath the desk and pulled out a large wooden box. He flipped it open pulling out a small golden sword that rested inside of the box. It seemed to glow with a small red light. "This here is one of the best things I've got."
"Whoa... You actually had a high level magic sword! I didn't think one would be in a dump like err... I mean... How much for the sword?" Oliver asked holding his cat tighter.
"This sword here is very special." The man grunted. "This is... A rare magic sword known as the Demon Blades."
"D... Demon Blades?"
"That's right. Only ten swords like this exist. Rare in nature. They are powerful and wielded only by the strongest Arcane Hunters. These ten swords were forged by the traitorous knight Lancelot and were made to rival the power of the the holy sword Excalibur. It is said that whoever wields such a blade will be granted with amazing luck. This one is named Long Caliber and was meant for an Arcane Hunter in the Umbra Mortis Guild..."
"For An Arcane Hunter! And one from Umbra Mortis! That Guild has caught up and is now tied in first place with the number one guild! That things got to be rare!" Oliver said with stars in his eyes for a moment. "Amazing! But wait? Why has it never seen use? I get that magic swords on this level are like super rare, but if that blade was specifically built than surely the person who wanted it could use it, and would have it right?"
"The one who ordered it died." The old man shrugged. "I think he exploded and his insides became his outside so he didn't need it anymore.?"
"...Gross..."
"It ain't my business. All I know is the stupid sword was given to me to sell, because the owner went and died. But if you don't want it I can find another buyer-"
"I want it! I want it a lot! Oliver Lot!"
"That'll be one hundred thousand Golden Bells then."
Oliver's face instantly dropped. "Is... Isn't that a bit pricey... I mean is this shop even worth a hundred golden bells?"
"Do you want it or not."
"I... I do but..." Oliver stopped as he made a face. He reached down picking up Cath his cat. He shoved his hand into the black ball creatures mouth and it seemed to sink in as he pulled out a brown bag coin purse. Inside he had one hundred thousand, and five hundred, golden bells. All the money he had been able to take from his family's vault without them noticing. "This is all my money... I just got here a few days ago... The entrance exam to take the Guild test is one hundred Bells and if I fail I'd only have four hundred left which is barley enough to last a month in this Kingdom... Especially with the War going on..."
"No cool magic sword for you I'm afraid." The man shrugged.
"W... Wait..."
"Hmm?"
"...You said that sword is strong right."
"Yep."
"Would... Would it make me strong enough to join the Guilds and pass the test. Would it make me strong enough to reach my goal. Would I be able to one day draw that sword... Excalibur."
The man spun the sword around. "Kid. This sword would put you on the level of a Captain in the Arcane Hunter Guilds. Maybe even a Guild Master. Those who wield the power of one of the ten Demon Blades are known as the Finders. Fate and Destiny will yield to them so they can collect the ten great blades!" He announced.
"R... Really! They're that strong..." Oliver looked down at his bag of money. "In that case... I'll take it!"
And so on his first day in Avalon Oliver Lot was scammed.
***
"And stay out!" The man grunted throwing Davi and Tori out of the train. "Freaking cheap bastards! Don't ever try that stunt again you here!"
Both of them collapsed onto the ground lying face down in a heap.
"First Orc I ever met and he beat me into the ground." Davi mused jokingly.
"Next time we're buying tickets."
"Next time just wake me up. Geez."
"I f##king hate you."
They both stood up and stared past the platform towards the city that was ahead of them. Neither of them said a word staring at all the large buildings ahead of them.
"So... We didn't make it to Oleander." Davi hummed folding his arms up.
"We're in Iris City." Tori sighed. He stood near a map looking it over. "Oleander is still pretty far and we're running out of time before the month ends... The next train won't be here until tomorrow either."
"So? What do we do then?"
"I don't know." Tori grunted kicking the pillar and knocking it over. "Screw it. Lets walk around time."
"Seriously?"
"You got anything better to do? We have a day to kill because of you."
"I guess." Davi sighed cocking his head back. "Alright then. Lets hope nothing goes wrong!"
"Idiot! Now something bad will surely happen!"